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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

DECONTAMINATION FROM RADIATION...HOPE FOUND IN NATURE

IN THE ONGOING CRISIS CAUSED BY THE JAPANESE CATASTROPHE IN 2011, MUCH SEEMS HOPELESS, BUT THERE ARE RAYS OF LIGHT, HOPE, HERE AND THERE. THE GREATEST HOPE IS BEING FOUND IN NATURE, AMAZINGLY.

I LIST A FEW OF THE APPARENTLY BEST SOLUTIONS AT THE END OF THIS ENTRY, BEGINNING AT THE DOUBLE ASTERISKS **. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DEMAND SUCH, YES, THERE ARE 'PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES'....

BUT FIRST A LOOK AT WHAT IS CURRENTLY ALREADY BEING TRIED.

HEMP

A group of representatives of Consolidated Growers and Processors, PHYTOTECH, and Ukraine’s Institute of Bast Crops experimented in the late 1990s with using industrial hemp, a form of the plant that’s high in fiber but low in psychoactive or medical benefits, near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, where a great deal of agricultural land is still unusable because of the presence of radiation and heavy metals still lingering from the 1986 meltdown.

The Belarusian scientists noted that one added benefit of industrial hemp over other phytoremediation plants is that it can also be used to produce biofuel**, potentially adding a second use for the crop after it removes toxins from the soil.

“As with the Chernobyl incident, scientists are finding radioactive emissions and toxic metals–including iodine, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium–concentrated in the soil, plants, and animals of Japan, but also now throughout the United States and all along the West Coast – from Canada to Mexico,” Sarich wrote for Nation of Change.

A number of studies have demonstrated hemp’s durability in the face of pollutants as well as its ability to remove metals from the soil.

In 1995, the Polish Institute of Natural Fibres released a study demonstrating that tested varieties were able to withstand high levels of heavy metals in soil without impacting plant growth, yield or fibre quality.

As a proven, valuable tool in the fight to repair human-inflicted damage to our soils and ecosystems, hemp could potentially benefit hundreds of thousands of sites across the globe—it is estimated that in the USA alone there are 30,000 sites requiring remediation. As is so often the case, US restrictions on hemp cultivation preclude any large-scale operations from being implemented, and the contaminated sites are largely left unremediated, through lack of both funding and interest on the part of the government.

While some researchers such as ** the Belarusian researcher above suggest that the hemp plants that have been used for phytoremediation purposes could then be used as a biofuel – the truth is, we simply don’t know if this is possible because the toxins may be once again released into the environment.

Yet knowing that hemp can be used to extract the substances to begin with is itself an amazing discovery. Indeed, it seems we can chalk one more productive use for a plant that has been in the cross hairs of the law enforcement community, federal, state and local governments, corporations and other relevant monopoly interests. It is time the American people fully recognize benefits of hemp as a long term solution to many issues and immediately demand that a senseless war on a plant be ended.

BOTTOM LINE?HEMP WOULD ALMOST SURELY REMOVE SOME RADIATION FROM SOILS, BUT WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH THE HEMP ONCE IT'S DONE ITS JOB.

A species of green algae, only 0.01 millimeter in size, can effectively eliminate radioactive cesium and strontium, according to researchers at the University of Yamanashi and Toho University.

[NO, IT DOES NOT ELIMINATE THOSE. THE ALGAE MERELY ABSORBS THEM. THEY REMAIN RADIOACTIVE INSIDE THE ALGAE THEN.]The algae was discovered five years ago by Yasuhiro Yukawa, president of Japan Biomass Corp., a venture business based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in a waste fluid treatment facility at a plating plant. The single-celled algae species with a large chlorophyll content was identified as a newly discovered species and named "parachlorella sp. binos."Katzuhiko Itoh, a project director at the Kitasato Institute, suggested that the algae could be used to decontaminate radioactivity because they have active vital processes and can ingest a variety of substances.The algae will be used to wash soil and be pasted on building walls and road surfaces like paint in a decontamination experiment scheduled for November in a residential quarter in Date, Fukushima Prefecture.

[HANG ON...PAINT IT ON SO IT CAN ABSORB RADIATION AND THEN EVERYTHING IT'S PAINTED ON "GLOWS IN THE DARK"??? THAT'S A GOOD THING? I DON'T SEE HOW.]When Hiroki Shimura, a research associate at the University of Yamanashi's Faculty of Medicine, and coworkers conducted an experiment using radioactive water sampled in Fukushima Prefecture, the algae removed 80 percent of radioactive strontium and 40 percent of cesium in 10 minutes. It is thought that the algae's secretions, which stick to their cell walls, absorb and retain the radioactive substances. Yukawa said the binos algae can easily be multiplied in a culture because their cells divide fast. They may also help to lessen the amount of post-decontamination waste because the algae lose about 90 percent in weight when dried. Yukawa hopes to cooperate with other enterprises in the future to help treat radioactive water and decontaminate farmland and residential quarters using the algae. November's experiment is meant to find out if the algae can be used to decontaminate building walls and road surfaces by applying the algae like paint and scraping them off after they have absorbed the radioactive material and dried off." AND THEN WHAT?WHAT HAPPENS TO WHAT THEY SCRAPE OFF?WILL THAT GO INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN OR UP IN SMOKE IN SOME JAPANESE FURNACE THAT BURNS RADIOACTIVE WASTE?THE POINT IS THAT MANY FORMS OF ALGAE DO WELL AND MULTIPLY QUICKLY IN RADIOACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS. AND, YES, THEY ABSORB RADIATION, BUT THEN WHAT?

TAKE THE INFAMOUS "BLACK ALGAE" SPOTTED SO OFTEN AROUND JAPAN, SOMETHING THAT THE ABE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WANT TO LABEL AS SOIL. NO, IT IS A CONFIRMED BLACK, HIGHLY ABSORPTIVE ALGAE.

" ...collected soil samples (what some call “black dust”) in locations in Minami
Soma, including several in Odaka District after the no-entry zone designation
was lifted were tested by the city’s laboratory for radioactive cesium,
and the result, as posted on the blog (5/10/2012) is shocking. The maximum detected there is
5,570,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in samples in Odaka District. In the
same district, half a million becquerels/kg of cesium in cow dung was also
found."

THAT THE PACIFIC IS CURRENTLY SHOWING AN IMMENSE OVERGROWTH OF ALGAE SHOULD CLUE IN THOSE WHO KNOW THIS FACT.

HOW "HOT" IS IT WITHIN THOSE MASSIVE GROWTHS OF ALGAE BLOOMS?

WHO WAS IT THAT SAID NUCLEAR REACTORS WERE A HELL OF A WAY TO BOIL WATER?

HOW "HOT" IS THE OCEAN SEDIMENT INTO WHICH SO MUCH FUKUSHIMA RADIATION HAS SETTLED?

HOW "HOT" ARE THE MILLIONS OF DEAD FISH, CRUSTACEANS, SEA BIRDS, TURTLES, ETC, THAT HAVE PERISHED IN THE PAST 5 YEARS?

The contamination was widespread and
included troubling accumulations of radiation in biological materials. While the
asphalt driveway was contaminated, the grass next to it was FOUR TIMES as
radioactive as the asphalt. The worst were the patches of FUNGUS on the
bleachers at the school’s baseball field, which had sucked-up radionuclides to
such a degree that they were emitting radiation at 70 TIMES the contaminated
asphalt.
[Sam Engelhard, an industrial hygienist and certified radiation protection
technologist] described the chilling phenomena of the
fungus-turned-radiation-sponge as, “a remarkable example of biological
amplification.”Wang said it more bluntly, “A boy sitting on that patch to watch a baseball
game could do real damage to his gonads.”

THE FUNGI COULD HELP US CONTAIN/ABSORB RADIATION FROM SOILS, SAME AS THE ALGAE THAT GROWS IN SOILS AND OCEANS, BUT, AGAIN, HOW TO DISPOSE OF IT ONCE IT'S DONE ITS JOB.

KELP, SEAWEED

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS SCIENTISTS NOTICED AFTER THE JAPANESE DISASTER AT DAIICHI WAS THE WAY KELP FORESTS SO READILY ABSORBED RADIATION. KELP FORESTS DIED OFF.WARNINGS WENT OUT ABOUT THE CONSUMPTION OF PACIFIC KELP AND MILD WARNINGS ABOUT JAPANESE SEAWEED.

Radiation levels in Japanese seaweed sold in California stores more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. 10 OF 12 SAMPLES TESTED IN 2012 ACTUALLY WENT OVER 10,000 BECQUERELS PER KILOGRAM.

WAKAME, NORI, THE MOST COMMONLY CONSUMED IN AMERICA IN THE FORMS OF MISO SOUP AND SUSHI WRAPS, WERE STILL SOLD IN 2014, THOUGH STILL SHOWING HIGH LEVELS OF RADIATION.

PACIFIC KELP WAS BRIEFLY FLAGGED AS CONTAMINATED, THEN ALL WAS SUDDENLY WELL, JUST FINE...EAT UP!THE KELP FORESTS WERE "RECOVERING".

"When alpha particle emitting isotopes are ingested, they are far more dangerous than their half-life or decay rate would suggest, due to the high relative biological effectiveness of alpha radiation to cause biological damage, after alpha-emitting radioisotopes enter living cells. Ingested alpha emitter radioisotopes (such as transuranics or actinides) are an average of about 20 times more dangerous, and in some experiments up to 1000 times more dangerous, than an equivalent activity of beta emitting or gamma emitting radioisotopes.

Alpha radiation is the most destructive form of ionizing radiation. It is the most strongly ionizing, and with large enough doses can cause any or all of the symptoms of radiation poisoning. It is estimated that chromosome damage from alpha particles is anywhere from 10 to 1000 times greater than that caused by an equivalent amount of gamma or beta radiation, with the average being set at 20 times. "

THE TEA ROOM HAS LONG USED KELPS AND SEAWEEDS PRIOR TO THE FUKUSHIMA MELTDOWNS, BUT NOW IT'S HARD TO TRUST ANY SOURCE, THOUGH I HAVE SWITCHED TO ATLANTIC BRANDS AND CUT BACK CONSUMPTION.

RICE AS I SAID, MANY THINGS FOUND IN NATURE ABSORB RADIATION, BUT SO DO CROPS, SOME MORE THAN OTHERS.Radioactive substances that contaminated rice paddies here in 2013 came from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, an international group of researchers said, rejecting a denial issued by Japan’s nuclear safety authority.The researchers, led by Akio Koizumi, a professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Medicine, reached the conclusion after analyzing radioactive substances and taking spot readings of radioactivity levels around Minami-Soma.“The cause of further contamination was the radioactive particles dispersed from contaminated rubble during the cleanup effort at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant,” Koizumi concluded in the report. Earlier, the agriculture ministry and the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) gave different views on the source of the contaminated rice. In 2013, rice crops from areas of Minami-Soma were found with unexpectedly high radioactivity levels more than two years after the triple meltdown at the nuclear plant located 20 kilometers south of the city.The NRA, however, said the contaminated rice was not related to the cleanup work at the nuclear plant.The Minami-Soma city assembly expressed outrage over the NRA’s stance. Some in the city suspected the NRA of a cover-up.Koizumi and the other researchers digitally recreated an accidental dispersal of contaminated dust from the plant in August 2013.They used a new analysis system to estimate the amount of radioactive cesium that spread toward Minami-Soma based on radioactivity readings around the city and other factors.The group’s cesium estimate was more than 3.6 times the amount initially estimated by the NRA.The research group in September 2014 also collected soil samples from 10 locations around the contaminated rice paddies to determine the amount of strontium 90 in the area.They confirmed that the ratio of strontium 90 to radioactive cesium in the soil samples was similar to the ratio that would be found near the Fukushima nuclear plant.Beta-ray emitting strontium 90 is less airborne and tends to remain within close proximity of nuclear weapon testing sites or nuclear accidents. Radioactive cesium is more volatile and can easily adhere to fine dust spread by the wind.“Every single piece of data in the paper supports the fact that contamination by radioactive dust came from the debris at the nuclear plant,” Koizumi said.Asked about the NRA’s conclusion, Koizumi said: “It seems they were blinded by their estimated amount of dispersed particles, and their choice for the analysis system was misguided. This kind of attitude would only increase the anxiety of residents in the affected areas.”The group’s findings were published in the international academic journal Environmental Science & Technology last month after a peer review."

COVER-UP PROVEN, YES?

THE TEA ROOM NOTED SEVERAL, PERHAPS WELL-MEANING, WEBSITES TOUTING RADIATION-PROTECTING NATURAL REMEDIES WHICH ARE THE VERY "NATURALS" THAT ABSORB RADIATION MOST EASILY...LIKE REISHI MUSHROOMS (A FUNGUS), KOMBUCHA TEA (KNOWING JAPANESE TEAS CONTAINED QUITE ALARMING LEVELS OF RADIATION?), BLUE-GREEN ALGAE (DEPENDS ON WHERE IT'S GROWN...NOT IN/NEAR THE PACIFIC. SPIRULINA IS STILL A PART OF MY DAILY "PROTOCOL" BUT FROM A NON-PACIFIC SOURCE NOW.), BENTONITE CLAY, KNOWN TO ABSORB RADIATION FOR A LONG TIME, SO I NEVER USED IT...THESE RECOMMENDATIONS JUST DON'T MAKE SENSE.INGESTING THESE ALREADY CONTAMINATED PRODUCTS INTRODUCES IONIZING RADIATION INTO HUMAN BODIES!WHY KNOWINGLY DO THAT?IT'S A REAL MESS, FOLKS.SOMETIMES IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE "DAMNED IF WE DO AND DAMNED IF WE DON'T".

WE NEED TO FEEL LIKE WE CAN HELP OURSELVES, COPE SOMEHOW, DO SOME GOOD, NOT HARM.

** THERE IS HOPE, ALWAYS! AS IS MY HABIT, I FOLLOW CLOSELY THE MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NATURAL PROTECTIONS AGAINST DISEASE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

I WILL NOT, BY ANY MEANS, RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING, BUT DO FIND THEM QUITE INTERESTING. THEY ARE "STRONG POSSIBILITIES" IN OUR QUEST TO ARM OURSELVES AGAINST THE INCREASING ONSLAUGHT.

PERHAPS MOST PROMISING OF THE 'STRONG POSSIBILITIES', AT LEAST TO ME, IS HIGH-DOSE VITAMIN C.

THE GREAT MIND, LINUS PAULING, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER, PROVED THIS HIGH-DOSE C BENEFIT DECADES AGO, BUT NEW RESEARCH SEEMS TO UNDERSCORE HIS REMARKABLE RESEARCH AND ADDS WEIGHT TO THE FINDINGS.

Vitamin C has many valuable attributes as a powerful antioxidant. Not only has it been shown to increase the ability of the immune system to fend off disease, but it also has a very positive effect for eradicating radiation from the body.

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin with over 300 metabolic functions and is non-toxic in mega doses. Whatever the body does not utilize is excreted in the urine.
The half life of vitamin C is approximately a half hour so it is in and out of your system rather quickly. Therefore to treat with vitamin C it must be taken relatively often over the course of the day to maintain saturation.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy have utilized mega doses of vitamin C for years in order to counter and protect themselves from deadly radiation.Vitamin C is one of the best defenses against the effects of cell damaging free radicals. Radiation causes proliferation of free radicals by breaking or damaging chemical bonds in DNA, leading to cell death.

Vitamin C has been shown to help the immune system sweep the body of free radicals and in doing so protect the body from the damaging effects associated with them.

The recommended daily dose on average is anywhere from 1000mg-3000mg; however, many utilize a mega dose of up to 20,000mg a day.

Linus Pauling indicated 20,000mg a day was the most his patients could tolerate orally. Intravenous vitamin C has been used at doses 10 times that level.

Vitamin C does more than protect against radiation, it also repairs damage from previous exposure. For example, researchers at Harvard Medical School indicated: "Our experiment showed that vitamin C can prevent damage from radiation...it somehow keeps the radiation from killing the cells." Their experiment showed a dosage of 10grams (10,000mg) for humans exposed to extensive radiation had beneficial results protecting the body."THOSE OF US INTOLERANT OF CITRUS FRUITS MAY FIND MEGA DOSES OF 'C' A LITERAL "LIFESAVER".

MY OWN PHYSICIAN-SUPERVISED SEARCH FOR MY PERSONAL TOLERANCE TO VITAMIN C BEGAN WITH THE SAGE ADVICE TO TAKE 1000 mg SEVERAL TIMES A DAY, NOT TO EXCEED 10,000 mg INITIALLY, AND TO CONTINUE ADDING 1.000 mg UNTIL /UNLESS DIARRHEA BECAME AN ISSUE, THEN TO STOP JUST SHY OF THAT LEVEL FOR A DAY AND THEN ADD 500 mg PER DAY, CAREFUL TO MONITOR MY BODY'S REACTION, UNTIL I ATTAINED 10,000 mg.

I AM SETTLED IN AT 12,000 mg PER DAY, BUT THIS IS, AS I SAID, MERELY RELATING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

According to a paper in the International Journal of Low Radiation:
Scientists have identified a total of nearly 3,000 genes that are upregulated by vitamin D, so it makes sense that it would have "multifaceted protective actions," as researchers noted in the International Journal of Low Radiation.
The report found that the most active molecular form of vitamin D -- D3 (also known as calcitriol) -- may offer protection against a variety of radiation-induced damages, including those caused by background radiation or a low-level nuclear incident, through the following mechanisms:

Cell cycle regulation and proliferation

Cellular differentiation and communication

Programmed Cell Death (PCD)

Anti-angiogenesis (a process that stops tumors from making new blood vessels, which means they stop growing)

The protective mechanisms are so strong that researchers suggested vitamin D3 should be considered among the prime (if not the primary) non-pharmacological agents to protect against sub-lethal low radiation damage and, particularly, radiation-induced cancer.

"... [O]ur understanding of how vitamin D mediates biological responses has entered a new era ... In view of the evidence that has been presented here, it would appear that vitamin D by its preventive/ameliorating actions should be given serious consideration as a protective agent against sublethal radiation injury, and in particular that induced by low radiation".

It's unclear how much vitamin D is necessary to protect against radiation-induced cancer, but researchers have found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4,000-8,000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce the risk of breast and colon cancers by about half.

Earlier studies have shown that optimizing your vitamin D levels could help you to prevent at least 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin cancers, so it's not a stretch to add radiation-induced cancer to that list.

Many are still nervous about taking doses larger than 1,000 to 2,000 units per day. This is unfortunate as most adults without sun or safe tanning bed exposure will need 6,000-8,000 units of vitamin D per day to attain healthy vitamin D levels.

What Else Can You do to Protect Against Radiation Risks?

"Biologists and drug makers have long been on the hunt for a pill that would protect humans from radiation in the event of a nuclear accident or terrorist attack. Currently, there is no such "magic pill," but there are a few close seconds, aside from vitamin D:

Potassium Iodide

If you're exposed to radioactive iodine, your thyroid, which uptakes iodine from your blood to make thyroid hormones, will actively take in this substance. This is why thyroid cancer is one of the greatest risks following exposure to this type of radiation.

Potassium iodide (a stable form of iodine) works by essentially "flooding" your system with iodine so your thyroid has no need to take in the radioactive form. The American Thyroid Association recommends that anyone living within 50 miles of a nuclear plant have potassium iodide in their household at all times in the event of a radiation emergency, and advises the supplement be made available to those living within 200 miles of a plant.

However, you should only take potassium iodide if you are near active radiation fallout.

This is NOT a strategy that should be used as a long-term preventive because it only protects your thyroid for one to three days, no longer, and taking it when not absolutely necessary could result in thyrotoxicosis.

In this regard, vitamin D may be far superior because it can be taken before,during and after a radiation incident with only positive ramifications, assuming you monitor your blood levels to keep them in the optimal range.
Remember, it's only if you are deficient in iodine that if a radioactive cloud passes by, your body will tend to suck that radioactive iodine into your thyroid gland to fill up its iodine stores.

In an ideal situation you will have been taking adequate amounts of iodine from safe sources, which will protect you from radioactive iodine naturally.

In reality, however, many are likely iodine deficient.
In an interview with Dr. David Brownstein, who has compiled a tremendous amount of clinical data on this topic and can be considered an expert in this area, and has been working with iodine for the last 20 years made a remarkable discovery.. He has tested over 5,000 patients in his clinic and found over 95% of them to be iodine deficient.

This is an incredible result as it puts iodine deficiency on par with the percentage of people that are deficient in vitamin D.

Spirulina

Spirulina -- a blue-green algae -- might be another useful alternative to protect against the effects of radiation, and there is in fact research backing this up. Spirulina was actually used to treat children exposed to chronic low levels of radiation after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
According to a scientific review of spirulina's benefits:

"Up to very recently, the interest in Spirulina was mainly in its nutritive value. Currently, however, numerous people are looking into the possible therapeutic effects of Spirulina.

Many pre-clinical studies and a few clinical studies suggest several therapeutic effects ranging from reduction of cholesterol and cancer to enhancing the immune system, increasing intestinal lactobacilli, reducing nephrotoxicity by heavy metals and drugs and radiation protection."

But what is it about this blue-green algae that gives it this radiation-protective capacity?

Spirulina has a 16 percent phycocyanin content—a blue pigment that is attached to its photosynthetic membranes. Phycocyanin is also a nitrogen storage molecule. The nitrogen atoms can form a complex with heavy metals such as radioactive cesium and stronium, hence "cleansing" these radioactive metals from your body.

THESE, TO ME, SEEM THE MOST SANE AND MOST PROMISING OF THE NATURAL HELPERS THAT MAY AT LEAST OFFER US SOME SMALL MEASURE OF ARMS AGAINST THE CURRENT, ONGOING ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE OF RADIATION EXPOSURE.

LET US ALSO RE-FAMILIARIZE OURSELVES WITH SOME OF THE BASICS IN PROTECTION.

There are three factors that control the amount, or dose, of radiation received from a source. Radiation exposure can be managed by a combination of these factors:

Time: Reducing the time of an exposure reduces the effective dose proportionally. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO AVOID AS MUCH EXPOSURE AS IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

Distance: Increasing distance reduces dose due to the inverse square law. BE AS FAR AWAY FROM SOURCES OF RADIATION AS POSSIBLE.

Shielding: The term 'biological shield' refers to a mass of absorbing material placed around a reactor, or other radioactive source, to reduce the radiation to a level safe for humans.The effectiveness of a material as a biological shield is related to its cross-section for scattering and absorption, and to a first approximation is proportional to the total mass of material per unit area interposed along the line of sight between the radiation source and the region to be protected.

FOR EXAMPLE: The radiation that manages to get through falls exponentially with the thickness of the shield. In x-ray facilities, walls surrounding the room with the x-ray generator may contain lead sheets, or the plaster may contain barium sulfate. Operators view the target through a leaded glass screen, or if they must remain in the same room as the target, wear lead aprons. Almost any material can act as a shield from gamma or x-rays if used in sufficient amounts.

THE MORE AND THICKER MATERIAL YOU CAN PUT BETWEEN YOU AND A RADIATION SOURCE THE BETTER.

WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THREE FACTORS TO BE AS SAFE AS WE C

WE ALL HAVE INNATE COMMON SENSE AND A WILL TO SURVIVE.

OUTSIDE ALL OUR GOVERNMENTS, I DEEPLY BELIEVE WE "AVERAGE CITIZENS" WOULD HELP EACH OTHER OVERCOME ANY ADVERSITY THAT MAY ARISE, WE'D HELP ONE ANOTHER.

WE CAN ERASE FEAR WITH KNOWLEDGE.WE CAN AND WE WILL LEARN SO THAT WE DO NOT PERISH, AFTER ALL.